Do You Hate Me?
by PureWishes
Summary: Tristan returns and at first Rory still dislikes him. But when they are paired together for an assignment, things change! (Its a ficlet for now, teehee)
1. He's Back

AUTHOR: Renae (PureWishes)  
  
EMAIL: SparkleAusBabe@aol.com  
  
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere is fine, as long as you let me know that you're putting it so I can see too!!  
  
PAIRINGS: Rory/Tristan  
  
RATING: PG (Ratings are so difficult, arent they?)  
  
SUMMARY: Set in an alternative universe.. no actually, it's set somewhere after Season 2 but before Rory realises she loves Jess. We'll say Jess is still in New York and Tristan returns during then. Read on :-P  
  
"Mary. So good to see you again." Tristan said, leaning against the lockers and leering at Rory.  
  
"Pity I dont share the same sentiments." glared Rory, slamming her locker.  
  
"Didn't you miss me, Mary?" smirked Tristan.  
  
"Not really, no." Rory looked up at him.  
  
"But after all we've been through. How long's it going to take until you realise how much you love me, Mary?" Tristan said, holding a hand to his heart.  
  
"You're delusional, Tristan," said Rory, pushing him aside and trying to walk past. Instead, Tristan jumped back in front of her, blocking her path. Rory attempted to get past again, but he persisted. Finally she simply stood still and placed her hands on her hips.  
  
"What do you think you're doing? I need to get to class!"  
  
"We need to talk, Rory." Tristan said, his tone was serious.  
  
"What about?" Rory replied, impatiently.  
  
"About the kiss," Tristan gazed into Rory's sparkling blue eyes. They mesmerised him.  
  
"We talked about it. Ages ago. We agreed we were both upset over our break ups and we were never going to mention it again. What else is there?" Rory wanted to avoid the subject. But she had a flashback to when the two of them sat by the piano at Madeline's party and they had kissed. She bit her lip. She'd told him it had been a nice kiss, hadn't she? It was a nice kiss. A real nice kiss.  
  
"Fine. If that's the way you feel," Tristan replied, quite hurt. He graciously moved aside to let Rory pass. Rory immediately hurried past him, not giving him another thought.  
  
Tristan stood in the hallway, staring down the corridor for awhile.  
  
"Why do I have to be such a jerk?" he sighed to himself. "She'll never know how I feel if I act like this."  
  
"You better get to class, DuGrey," yelled a teacher who had come up behind him. "The bell went quite a few minutes ago!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am," Tristan mumbled, and he picked up his things and hurried to class.  
  
Opening the door to English Literature, he sauntered in, smiling to the teacher who was currently lecturing the students.  
  
"Nice of you to finally join us, Mr DuGrey. Please take your seat!"  
  
Tristan smirked to himself as he noticed that the only vacant seat happened to be located next to Rory Gilmore.  
  
Dropping his things on the desk, he pulled out the chair and sat down. He grinned at Rory, who quickly turned her attention back to the teacher.  
  
"I thought we went through this last year, Mr DuGrey." the teacher said to Tristan, sternly.  
  
"What?" Tristan blinked, he had been taking no notice.  
  
"What is so fascinating about Miss Gilmore's ear?"  
  
Tristan slightly blushed. "I wasn't looking at her ear. I was looking at the poster just past her ear."  
  
Conveniently, there was a poster on the wall.  
  
"Alright Mr DuGrey, as fascinating as Miss Gilmore's ear or the poster may be, please divert your attention to me while I'm speaking."  
  
"Yes, ma'am, will do."  
  
Rory listened to the teacher tell Tristan off. Tristan had been staring at her? Would he never give up? She was not about to be another girl on his long list of conquests.  
  
Tristan didn't get told off again for looking at Rory, but that didn't mean he stopped. He snuck a glance at her every now and then. He couldn't help noticing the way her brown hair shone and how it neatly framed her face. He could just imagine the smell of her sweet shampoo.. he vaguely remembered her scent from when they had shared that kiss at Madeline's party. Oh that kiss.  
  
The bell rang and the class got up to leave.  
  
"Just a minute class. I have to put you into pairs for this assignment. You've all read the brief, I presume."  
  
Rory groaned. She hated working in pairs.. she worked better by herself. Well at least she couldn't be paired with Paris, who wasn't in this class.  
  
"Tristan DuGrey, you'll be with Rory Gilmore. This will give you a chance to continue to admire her ear. Well, well," the teacher chuckled.  
  
Rory groaned again. The teacher must have done this on purpose. Evil teacher, she thought. The teacher continued to read off the pairs, and then he finally dismissed the class.  
  
Rory quickly left the classroom, but Tristan caught up with her.  
  
"Rory," he said, grabbing her shoulder. His heart raced as he touched her.  
  
Rory turned to face him. "You've remembered my name!" she exclaimed sarcastically.  
  
"I know your name is Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, but don't you think Mary suits you better?" Tristan smirked.  
  
Rory simply glared at him, but flattered that he knew her entire name.  
  
"Okay okay, I promise not to fool around. When do we start work on that assignment?"  
  
"Oh so you're actually going to help? I was expecting to do it all on my own."  
  
"I wouldn't pass up any chance to be with you, Mary." Tristan said, subtley moving a little closer.  
  
Rory dismissed the comment. "I don't want to work with you Tristan, it's too difficult." she said sternly.  
  
"Why? Because you think you'll have a hard time keeping your hands off me?"  
  
"You're so full of yourself!" Rory retorted.  
  
"You know you want me." Tristan grinned, but then frowned when he saw her expression. "Sorry, habit," he quickly muttered.  
  
"If you are going to work on this assignment with me, you have to promise me that you will NOT try anything and you'll quit with the smart comments. Otherwise, I have the right to deck you!"  
  
Tristan simply smiled at her. "I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything...."  
  
Then there was silence. Tristan simply stared at Rory, and Rory stared back. What were each of them thinking? We wonder.  
  
"So.. whose house should we work at?" Rory broke the silence.  
  
Tristan would love to visit Rory's house.. besides, he was sure his house would intimidate her.  
  
"Yours. We're decorating. The place is a mess." Tristan lied.  
  
"Okay.. Then today after school? Do you know where my house is?" Rory asked, still a little unsure about working with Tristan. Especially in her town where Dean might be lurking. She supposed she shouldn't worry about Dean, since they weren't dating anymore.  
  
"No.. But you can show me. I'll give you a lift."  
  
"No, I can catch the bus."  
  
"But that's just stupid. I'm going to your place, you're going to your place. I may as well TAKE you to your place!"  
  
He had a point. "You're right. Well, okay."  
  
Rory thought about being alone in a car with him. Ugh.  
  
"I'll see you after school then by the school gate?" Tristan said, as he turned to head to his next class.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"I'll be waiting," he called, smiling to himself. This was one small step, closer to Rory Gilmore.  
  
Rory frowned to herself. This was one step closer to Tristan, one step she didn't want to take. No doubt he'd try something, or he'd bring up the kiss again.. he'd do something to make her life difficult! 


	2. Studying

As soon as the school bell rang, Rory went to her locker, got her book bag and headed to the school gate. Sure enough, Tristan was already waiting, and he was leaning against the wall casually.  
  
"Hi." Rory said quietly.  
  
Tristan's eyes flickered towards her. He'd been daydreaming, and hadn't noticed her approach.  
  
"Hey Mary." he smiled. It wasn't a cocky smile, it seemed to be a genuine smile.  
  
"So? Are we going?" Rory said, motioning towards the school gate.  
  
"Oh yeah, my car's this way. Let me carry your books." Tristan said, trying to grab her bag.  
  
"No thank you! I still remember last time you got your paws on my books!" Rory retorted.  
  
Tristan laughed but a lump formed in his throat as he remembered how Rory had jumped into Dean's arms and told him she loved him.. and hated Tristan.  
  
Tristan didn't say anything, and Rory didn't notice.  
  
Tristan unlocked his car, and Rory slid into the passenger seat. Leather.  
  
"Nice car," Rory commented.  
  
"Thanks," Tristan replied, putting the key into the ignition. There was another break of silence.  
  
"Did you choose black?" Rory said, trying to make conversation.  
  
"Nah, I would have gone for a very red sports car." Tristan kept his eyes on the road as they turned onto the highway.  
  
They didn't say much for awhile until Tristan suddenly blurted. "Do you hate me?"  
  
Rory blinked and suddenly turned to look at him. She stared at him for a moment, before answering him. "Why do you say that?"  
  
"You told Dean you hated me." Tristan stated, looking quite sad.  
  
Rory noticed his expression. She gulped. Did she hate him? Maybe she disliked the way he acted sometimes, but he probably wasn't that bad. "I wouldn't say I actually hate you."  
  
"Then why did you say it, Rory?" Tristan pressed, the frown still present on his face.  
  
"I dont know. To get Dean back I suppose. I thought I loved Dean, and saying it made him happy."  
  
"It really hurt me." Tristan said quietly.  
  
"I'm sorry." There was an awkward silence.  
  
"So how is Dean?" Tristan said, hiding the bitterness in his voice.  
  
"He's fine, as far as I know."  
  
"As far as you know?" Tristan raised an eyebrow and looked at her.  
  
"We broke up..." Rory said slowly.  
  
"Oh. Sorry." Tristan said, even though he wasn't.  
  
"You said you didn't like me!" Rory said suddenly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You said you didnt like me! You said 'I dont like your girlfriend' to Dean. I remember now!" Rory practically shouted.  
  
Tristan was gobsmacked. He remembered saying it clearly, but not for one minute had he mean't it. "I...."  
  
He didn't know what to say.  
  
"You know that's not true, Rory."  
  
Rory folded her arms. "Well we're even then, arent we?"  
  
"WATCH OUT FOR THE DEER!" Rory screamed.  
  
"What deer?" Tristan asked shocked.  
  
"Oops."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Roadsign." Rory blushed.  
  
"Do you have a phobia of deers?"  
  
"No, but my car got wrecked by one."  
  
"Do explain."  
  
"Jess was driving my car. There was a deer on the road. He swerved, and we hit a tree. End of story, and end of car." Rory looked down at her hands, remembering how upset Dean had been when he heard about the car.  
  
"I was in a car crash once." Tristan slowly said.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, what happened?"  
  
"My sister died."  
  
"Oh Im sorry!" Rory really was. What a tragic thing to happen!  
  
"Do we turn left here?" Tristan changed the subject.  
  
"No, turn right." Rory directed.  
  
"Which house?"  
  
"The big one over there. Yeah this is it." Rory quickly undid her buckle as the car stopped. She opened the door and got out.  
  
She hurried up the path and Tristan slowly followed. Rory put her key in the door. She called back to Tristan.  
  
"Come on, hurry up, we need to start quickly. Mom and I have to have dinner at my grandparents tonight, argh, I forgot."  
  
Tristan didn't want to study. He wanted to tell Rory how much he loved her and how sorry he was for everything he'd done to her. But, ofcourse, he never could, and the only words that would ever come out of his mouth were "You know you want me" or something just as cocky.  
  
"Bleh."  
  
"What was that?" Rory said, putting her things down in the kitchen.  
  
"Nothing. Nice house." Tristan commented, looking around.  
  
Rory shyly replied. "I bet it's nothing compared to yours."  
  
"I like it. My house is so dismal and big. I get lost regularly. I have to call my parents on a cell phone to work out which room they're in."  
  
Rory chuckled. "Coffee?"  
  
"Sure." She poured him a cup. He quickly took a sip and screwed up his face.  
  
"Geez, Mary, are you trying to poison me?"  
  
"Haha, it's just strong coffee. I like my coffee this strong." Rory took a big sip of her own cup.  
  
"I think I'll pass on the coffee. It'll keep my up all night and probably the next night too!"  
  
Rory already finished her first cup and began pouring herself another.  
  
Tristan laughed. "You must be an addict."  
  
"If you think I'm an addict, wait until you meet my Mom. She has 6 cups in the morning, before I've even waken up!" Rory quickly drank her second coffee.  
  
"Okay ready, let the hard-working and no-playing begin." She wiggled her finger at Tristan. "This means you have to be a good boy, and do everything I say."  
  
"Yes, your majesty!" Tristan mocked her.  
  
Rory had forgotten the initial uncomfortableness she'd felt about having Tristan in her home. She'd decided she'd actually missed their playful banter.  
  
"Is this your room?" Tristan said, pushing the door gently.  
  
"Oh... yeah." Rory said shyly.  
  
"I'd like to see more of your room," Tristan said slyly.  
  
Rory flushed. "What did I say about being good?"  
  
"Yeah yeah, sorry." Tristan pulled the door closed again.  
  
Rory sat down in the living room and got out her books.  
  
"Where shall we begin? Hmm.."  
  
................ ................  
  
"What beautiful eyes you have!" Tristan said after about half an hour of working. He couldn't help it, he'd been trying to concentrate, but her eyes had mesmerised him yet again.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Your eyes.." he said slowly.  
  
"What?" Rory said again.  
  
"Nothing." Tristan said quietly.  
  
"Oh okay." Rory dismissed his comment and went back to talking about their assignment.  
  
............... ...............  
  
Rory had to admit that Tristan was pretty smart. He had put forward some really good ideas and he paid alot of attention.  
  
"I think you deserve a sticker!" Rory giggled. "For being such a good boy!"  
  
"A sticker? I could think of much better rewards, Mary..."  
  
Rory narrowed her eyes. "I can take it back."  
  
"I'm only joking. Though I still can think of that better reward. It involves you, me and a bed."  
  
"Stop it!" she said, picking up a cushion and hitting him with it.  
  
"Hey!" Tristan grabbed another cushion and threw it back at Rory.  
  
Rory stood up, grabbed all the cushions off the sofa and started hitting Tristan with them.  
  
"Ah ah I surrender!" Tristan mumbled, as he was being pounded with cushions.  
  
Rory stopped her attack on him, and dropped the cushions. "Promise you'll be good."  
  
Tristan slowly stood up, sneakingly picking up a cushion. "I can't promise anything....."  
  
Then he hit her with the cushion. "Hey no fair!" she said and then a massive cushion fight started.  
  
Then, somehow, they both ended up on the ground, Tristan lying on top of Rory, with a cushion between them. Tristan simply gazed into Rory's eyes. Rory gazed back.  
  
"You've got beautiful blue eyes." Rory was surprised at what she said.  
  
"You have even more beautiful blue eyes." Tristan whispered back, his face moving closer to Rory's.  
  
Rory could almost feel his breath on her face and she raised her head slightly in anticipation of the kiss. Their lips almost met, but they were interrupted when someone rushed into the living room.  
  
"Rory, Rory!" Lorelai shouted, but then stopped when she saw the two teenagers on the floor. "And just WHAT do you think you're doing?"  
  
Rory blinked, staring up at Tristan on top of her. Tristan looked sideways at Lorelai, putting on a lopsided grin, and rolled off Rory.  
  
"Pillow fight, Mom." Rory said.  
  
Lorelai narrowed her eyes at Tristan. "And just what is a boy doing in our living room, on top of you, Rory?"  
  
"Pillow fight, I said." Rory repeated.  
  
"He came to our house to have a pillow fight?" Lorelai raised her eyebrows.  
  
"Yes, no, wait, we came here to study."  
  
"And from what I saw, you were doing a lot of studying when I arrived."  
  
Rory glared at her Mum.  
  
"Okay, okay, I know, you're 17, you're a grown girl. Well who is this fine specimen anyway?" Lorelai flicked her attention to Tristan.  
  
"Mum, this is Tristan." Rory said, grabbing Tristan's arm and pulling him closer to them.  
  
"Tristan.." Lorelai rolled the name on her tongue. "You mean, evil Tristan? Satan? The one from Chilton who gave you a helluva time?" She looked Tristan over. "But he's gorgeous, you never told me that!"  
  
Tristan smirked. "You talk about me? Im honoured!"  
  
Rory went bright red. She remembered what had been about to happen before Lorelai had walked in on them. "Tristan, I think you should go."  
  
"Dont let me interrupt you two. What can I say.. Im glad you're 'getting along now'." Lorelai said, smirking.  
  
"You weren't interrupting anything," Rory tried to assure Lorelai and herself. "What did you want?"  
  
"Just needed to borrow the coffee maker, the one at the Inn broke." Lorelai hurried into the kitchen and unplugged the machine. "Im off, have fun kids.. and dont do anything I wouldnt." She opened the door and ran out, but moments later she returned. "Second thought, do anything I wouldnt." She grinned.  
  
"What did your Mom mean by that?" Tristan raised his eyebrows and looked at Rory.  
  
Rory looked down at her feet. "The whole, getting pregnant at 16 thing."  
  
"Ah. Yeah." Tristan felt awkward. For some reason, going anywhere near the topic of sex around Rory, suddenly frightened him. "So what just happened before?"  
  
"What happened? Nothing happened!!" Rory said, packing up their assignment things.  
  
Tristan watched her in curiosity. "You can't just ignore the fact that we almost kissed back there."  
  
Rory looked up. "Temporary moment of insanity."  
  
Tristan sat next to Rory. "Rory..."  
  
"What?" She said sternly.  
  
"You can't keep avoiding this."  
  
"Avoiding what?" She snorted.  
  
"This..." Tristan said, and he leaned in closer to Rory. Rory looked at his lips, and subconsciously licked her own. Tristan expected her to move away, or do something to stop him, but as he continued to lean into her, he found his lips met her own. Tristan softly, yet very passionately kissed Rory, and she returned the kiss with equal passion. The kiss deepened, and Rory started seeing stars. She slowly wrapped her arms around Tristan's neck and pulled him closer.  
  
Eventually, they were out of air, and pulled apart. Rory gasped.  
  
"You don't know how long I've been waiting for that to happen again, Rory." Tristan said slowly. "I just hope, only this time, that you won't run away crying."  
  
Rory stared at him. Her eyes were wide. She gingerly touched her swollen lips.  
  
She blinked.  
  
"Rory?" Tristan asked her.  
  
Rory simply stared at him. She came closer again, and lightly pressed her lips to his. She pulled away quickly and sat staring at him. She bit her lip.  
  
Tristan reached out to her, and pulled her close.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned about her silence.  
  
"I'm just.....shocked." Rory whispered.  
  
Tristan wrapped his arms around her, and held her tightly. She didn't object. "About what?"  
  
"About kissing you. Yet again."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I dont know why. I mean, Dean's not around, is he? And.. it was a good kiss. A nice kiss."  
  
"That's what you said last time."  
  
"And I mean it more this time. It was a great kiss."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I suppose you could even say better than all of Dean's kisses combined." She whispered, clinging to him.  
  
"Really?" He asked shocked. He tilted his head and propped up her chin. He stared into her eyes for a moment, before leaning in and kissing her gently.  
  
Rory smiled, and kissed him. "You can be a jerk. A big jerk.. But I guess I enjoyed the attention. While you were gone, I even missed our daily locker meetings."  
  
Tristan smiled broadly, for he was truly happy at this moment.  
  
"So I can call you mine then?"  
  
"I'm not a possession!" Rory retorted, grabbing a cushion and playfull hitting him with it.  
  
Tristan grabbed another cushion and hit her back.  
  
"Are you ticklish?" Tristan smirked. He didn't wait for an answer, he simply started tickling her like mad. Rory certainly was ticklish, and she started rolling over in laughter.  
  
Rory laughed so loudly, Babette and all the other neighbours probably heard. ((Is that what the noise was? I thought it was a hyena! -- "Babette")) 


End file.
